Telephone call placement

ABSTRACT

A method or apparatus for connecting a telephone call between a vehicle driver and a customer, the method comprising receiving a driver request message from a device associated with the vehicle driver to place a telephone call between the vehicle driver and a customer; using the driver request message to match the vehicle driver with a job allocation record in at least one database and identifying from the record the identity of the customer; retrieving a telephone number relating to the device associated with the vehicle driver and retrieving a customer telephone number from the at least one database; and causing a telephony service to use the telephone numbers to place the telephone call between the vehicle driver and the customer.

FIELD

The invention relates to a system and method for placing a telephone call. In particular, the invention relates to placing a telephone call between a private hire vehicle driver and a customer.

BACKGROUND

In the field of private hire cars, a customer can make a booking by calling a central booking centre. When the booking is made, the call centre operator can record the customer's contact details, including their telephone number. Alternatively, contact details, including a telephone number, for existing customers may already be recorded. If the vehicle driver wishes to speak to the customer, the call centre operator is required to provide the customer's telephone number to the vehicle driver who then calls the customer directly.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1a is a schematic diagram of a system for management of a private hire vehicle service according to various aspects of the present invention;

FIG. 1b is a schematic diagram of a different configuration of the FIG. 1 system for management of a private hire vehicle service according to various aspects of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating overall operation of the system in fulfilling a booking through providing a private hire vehicle, and is performed by the system of FIG. 1a or the system of FIG. 1 b;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating calculating a score for a combination of a vehicle/driver pair in relation to a booking, and is performed by the system of FIG. 1a or the system of FIG. 1 b;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating allocation of a vehicle/driver pairing in relation to a booking, and is performed by the system of FIG. 1a or the system of FIG. 1 b;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating components of a server forming part of the FIG. 1a or FIG. 1b system;

FIG. 6 is a system diagram illustrating an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing steps performed at the server according to embodiments of the invention; and

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing steps performed by a call placement facility in accordance with embodiments of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Overview

Embodiments of the invention provide a process to set up a telephone call between a vehicle driver (for example, a taxi driver) allocated to a job and a customer who has requested the job. In particular, the call can be set up without divulging the customer's phone number to the driver. The driver can forward a request to a system which manages the private hire service to place a call between the driver and the customer. Components of the system can then access the details relating of the customer who has ordered the job. The system then forwards the phone numbers of both the driver and the customer to a call placement provider who then sets up the call between the driver and the customer.

It will be appreciated that this function will be advantageous in a number of scenarios. For example, if the driver arrives at the pick-up location at the pick-up time and finds that the customer is not present, the driver may wish to call the customer. Alternatively, if the driver is running late for the pick-up, the driver may warn the customer by calling them. As such, it is possible to provide an interactive private hire service without compromising the personal details of the customer.

In accordance with some embodiments, systems, methods, apparatus, and computer-readable media provide for:

-   -   receiving a driver request message from a device associated with         the vehicle driver to place a telephone call between the vehicle         driver and a customer;     -   using the driver request message to match the vehicle driver         with a job allocation record in at least one database and         identifying from the record the identity of the customer;     -   retrieving a telephone number relating to the device associated         with the vehicle driver and retrieving a customer telephone         number from the at least one database; and     -   causing a telephony service to use the telephone numbers to         place the telephone call between the vehicle driver and the         customer.

The driver request message may comprise a driver identifier.

In accordance with some embodiments, systems, methods, apparatus, and computer-readable media may further provide for: using the driver identifier to identify a job to which the vehicle driver has been allocated and obtaining customer information relating to the job.

In accordance with some embodiments, systems, methods, apparatus, and computer-readable media may further provide for: retrieving a customer phone number from a customer database or from an accounts database.

The telephony service may be a conference call host.

The driver request to place a call may be a message sent in response to actuation of a call-out soft button displayed on a user interface of a driver device.

Causing a telephony service to place the telephone call may comprise sending an instruction message from a vehicle management system to the telephony service.

The instruction message may comprise an instruction for the telephony service to call the driver device, and in response to the driver device answering the call, subsequently calling the customer device.

The instruction message may contain the telephone number of the driver and the telephone number of the customer.

The instruction message may be an encrypted XML message.

In accordance with some embodiments, systems, methods, apparatus, and computer-readable media may further provide for: causing the driver telephone number to be displayed on the customer device during a telephone call.

In accordance with some embodiments, systems, methods, apparatus, and computer-readable media may further provide for: causing a telephone number of the private hire service to be displayed on the customer device during a telephone call.

FIG. 1a is a schematic diagram of a system for management of a private hire vehicle service according to various aspects of the present invention.

The system 100 includes a number of interconnected components, as will now be described. The system 100 includes at its centre a core system 101. This comprises one or more server computers running system software that ensures smooth operation of the system 100.

Key functions of the system 100 are bookings, allocation of a private hire vehicle to a booking, vehicle and driver management, account management and record keeping.

The booking function is provided primarily by a web booking server 102, an application booking server 103 and call centre terminals 104A and 104B, all of which are coupled to the core system 101.

The allocation function is provided primarily by a job allocation module 105, with information from other parts of the system 100.

The system includes database functions. In particular, an operational database 130 stores records that relate to general operation of the system 100. A driver network database 131 stores records that relate to drivers and vehicles that are managed by the system 100. Lastly, a historical database 132 stores records that have been archived from the operational database 130. Archiving of records from the operational database 130 to the historical database 132 occurs periodically and only records that are no longer needed for general operational use are archived.

The vehicle and driver management function is provided primarily by a driver location monitoring module 106 and a driver's devices server 107, with reference to the driver network database 131 as well as other components of the system 100.

The account management function is provided primarily by an account management module 117, utilising accounts information stored in the operational database 130 along with other components of the system 100.

The operational database 130 stores details of every account held with the operator of the system 100. Each account is identified by an account number stored in the operational database 130. The accounts information stored in the operational database 130 may also include an account name, such as a company name and contact details for the company. The accounts information stored in the operational database 130 stores credit card details and/or other payment details so that payment can be taken from the account holder if permitted. A password and/or PIN (personal identification number) is associated with each account and stored with the accounts information in the operational database 130. Furthermore, a list of persons authorised to make bookings on the account may be stored, and optionally profiles for the individual authorised persons within the accounts.

The accounts information stored in the operational database 130 may also include a contact name and telephone number of a person who should be contacted in case of problems with the account. The accounts information stored in the operational database 130 includes information regarding invoicing preferences, for example the frequency of invoicing, date on which the invoice should be sent, the monthly/weekly credit limit and what information from each booking should be included on the invoice. The accounts information stored in the operational database 130 may indicate whether each account is active, or if it has been placed on hold. An account may be placed on hold by a credit control department and this may prevent further bookings being made on the account. Historical data of spending on the account may also be stored in the operational database 130, or this may be stored in the historical database 132.

The record keeping function is provided primarily by the historical database 132, although the operational database 130 and the driver network database 131 also provide some record keeping function.

In brief, a fleet of private hire vehicles is managed by the system 100. Each vehicle has a respective record in the driver network database 131, as will now be described.

The driver network database 131 stores information about every vehicle in the fleet. The registration number (license plate number) of each vehicle is stored in the driver network database 131. This may be used to identify each vehicle. Alternatively or in addition, a unique identifier separate from the registration number may be assigned to each vehicle as the primary means of identification within the driver network database 131.

Each Service is defined according to its vehicle type, capacity and other characteristics. In some embodiments, these types are “Up to 4 passengers”, “Up to 7 passengers”, “Electric vehicle”, “VIP” and “Up to 4 passengers with luggage”. The driver network database 131 stores the type of each vehicle and may also store a corresponding number or short string of characters which represents each type. Any special equipment such as a baby seat or the ability to accommodate a wheelchair is also identified in the driver network database 131. The driver network database 131 indicates the current driver to whom the car is assigned, although the driver/vehicle allocation changes from time to time.

The driver network database 131 stores the make and model and optionally the colour of each vehicle. The driver network database 131 also indicates the current status of the vehicle. In some embodiments, the status is chosen from “Driver Pool”, meaning that the car is in use by a driver, “Free Pool”, meaning that the car is not currently being used and is free to be allocated to a driver and “Workshop”, meaning that the car is undergoing maintenance or repair. The driver network database 131 also stores the private hire license number (PCO) for each vehicle and the date on which this license expires as well as the road tax, vehicle insurance and MOT (vehicle roadworthiness certificate) expiry dates if appropriate. Examples of other data which may be stored are the date of purchase of the vehicle, the price paid for the vehicle, the date of manufacture, the supplier of the vehicle, warranty information and the date of the last inspection/maintenance.

Historic data about each vehicle may also be stored in the driver network database 131, such as a record of the previous registration numbers and a record of the previous drivers who were assigned to the vehicle. The service history and details of any accidents and repairs may also be stored.

The fleet of private hire vehicles is driven by a pool of drivers, each of which has a record in the driver network database 131.

The driver network database 131 stores information about each of the drivers registered with the operator of the system 100. The information relating to drivers includes personal data such as name, contact details (including phone number, home address), date of birth, next of kin and driver account data. Driver status information may be stored to indicate whether a driver is active or inactive, whether the driver has been allocated a vehicle etc. Each driver may also be assigned an individual and unique identifier as a means of identifying the driver. Callsigns may also be used to denote drivers and are stored in the driver network database 131, although callsigns can be changed and reallocated between drivers as long as the same callsign is not in use by two drivers at the same time.

Driver account data includes an account number. Other information may include a driver's insurance details, a driver's length of service in the fleet, details of parking fines, historical wage information, holiday leave, driver diary information, information regarding payment collections from drivers, driver's license number, national insurance (social security) number, details relating to a driver's taxicab license (such as Public Carriage Office (PCO) license), driver banking details (account number, sort code etc.). Miscellaneous information such as details of any allergies, smoker/non-smoker etc. may also be stored in the driver network database 131. Information regarding driver equipment such as a serial number of the driver's device 110 allocated to the driver, and mobile phone number of their driver's device 110 and their private mobile phone may also be recorded. Statistical information such as date of last job or historical earnings data may be recorded in the driver network database 131, or this may be recorded in the historical database 132.

Information relating to payments to and from drivers may be stored in the driver network database 131. Payments to the driver include a driver's wages. Driver outgoings may include, for example, car wash charges, insurance premiums, PCO renewal fee, accident costs, vehicle rental. To assist in maintaining this information, a purchase ledger number and contract number relating to each driver may be stored.

Each driver has an associated driver's device 110, three of which are shown at 110A, 110B and 110C in the Figure. The driver's devices 110 are portable electronic devices that are provided with wireless communication facilities. The driver's devices no may take any suitable form, but typically are smart phones or personal digital assistants or such like. The driver's devices 110 include a display and one or more input devices such as a keyboard, a voice control module or a touch screen or any combination thereof.

The driver's devices 110 are connected to the driver's devices server 107 via radio network 111, which may for instance be a mobile phone (cellular phone) network. In this case, the driver's devices 110 are provided with subscriptions to the mobile phone network such that they can send digital data to and from the driver's devices server 107. Additionally, messages are able to be passed between the driver's devices 110 and the driver's devices server 107 through other media, and in particular SMS (short message service) messages and optionally also MMS (multimedia message service) messages.

The radio network 111 may alternatively be a dedicated radio network, for instance a private mobile phone network or a private radio network of some other type.

Data may be communicated between the driver's devices 110 and driver's devices server 107 over any suitable communications link, for instance using a data channel of a cellular telephone network such as a GSM, EDGE, GPRS, UMTS, HSxPA or LTE network.

The driver's devices 110 are configured to report their locations to the driver network database 131 at regular intervals, for instance 30 second intervals. The driver's devices 110 include GPS (global positioning system) receivers, which calculate the locations of the driver's devices 110 under control of the software applications executing on the driver's devices 110. Alternatively, they may include some other positioning module or device that is operable to calculate the positions of the driver's devices 110 with a suitable level of accuracy and resolution.

A private hire vehicle may be booked by a customer in one of three ways. Firstly, a private hire vehicle may be booked in a telephone conversation with a call centre operator. In this case, the customer initiates a telephone call with a call centre, an agent of which operates one of the call centre computer terminals 104A and 104B. The call centre agent then operates the terminal 104A, 104B so as to make the booking of the private hire vehicle according to the customer's requirements. The customer's requirements are obtained verbally during the telephone conversation between the customer and the agent.

In the second option, the customer may make the private hire vehicle booking using a browser application on a computing device 113, three examples of which are shown at 113A, 113B and 113C in the Figure. Each of the computing devices 113 is connected to the web booking server 102 by a network 114, which may for instance be the Internet or another public or private network. The web booking server 102 includes web server functionality that causes display of suitable web pages by the browser of the terminal 113. The customer's requirements with respect to the private hire vehicle booking are obtained by the web booking server 102 through the provision of suitable pages to the computer terminal 113 requesting the provision of the required information by the customer. The information may be provided by the customer through free text entry through the use of drop down lists, radio buttons etc. Some information may be pre-filled into the web pages provided by the web booking server 102.

Booking through the web booking server 102 may require the customer to login to a web portal before they can make their booking. The logging in may require the entering of a username and a password or PIN number. Through the control of a web session by the web booking server 102, for instance using cookies provided to the computer terminals 113, the booking can be known to have been validly made by virtue of the customer having being logged in to the web booking server at the time the booking was made.

The final way in which a customer can make a booking of a private hire vehicle is using a dedicated software application that is installed on and running on a portable communications device 112, three of which are shown at 112A, 112B and 112C in FIG. 1a . The portable communications devices 112 may take any suitable form, but typically are smart phones, feature phones, tablet computers or personal digital assistants or such like. The communication devices 112 are coupled to the application booking server 103 by a radio network in, which may be the same as the radio network in described above with relation to the driver's devices 110 and the driver's devices 107.

The application is configured to provide a user interface that allows the customer to provide the software application with the information required to make the private hire vehicle booking. For instance, the software application, when executed, may cause the display of interactive pages that allow the customer to select or enter the required information. The software application is configured also to communicate the information relating to the booking that has been provided by the customer to the application booking server 103. If based on information provided by the customer it is determined that the application booking server 103 requires additional information, the software application running the mobile device 112 is configured to provide an interactive display to the customer such that the customer can provide the information, following which the software application causes it to be provided to the application booking server 103.

The customer may be required to log in to the software application on the mobile device 112, prior to making a booking. Logging in to the software application may require a username and a password or PIN number. Alternatively, the username may be entered during set up of the application and may not need to be entered subsequently when this software application is executed. If the username is not required to be entered, the user may log in to the software application simply by entering the password or PIN number.

The information about the private hire vehicle booking that is obtained during the booking process is as follows.

-   -   Customer details. The customer details may be the name of the         customer or an identifier that uniquely identifies the customer         within the operational database 130.     -   Service type. This indicates the category of vehicle. For         instance, the service type may indicate a vehicle of a standard         type and having four seats, or a vehicle of a standard type and         having seven seats. The service may alternatively indicate a VIP         vehicle, or an environmentally-friendly (electric or hybrid)         vehicle (also known as a green vehicle).     -   Journey type. The journey type may be a single (one-way) trip,         or it may be a wait and return trip. The journey type may         alternatively be a journey including multiple pick-up locations         or multiple drop off locations or both multiple pick-ups and         multiple drop off locations. The journey type may alternatively         indicate that it is a pick-up from an airport or a drop at an         airport.     -   Pick-up address. This indicates an address at which the customer         is to be picked up at the beginning of the journey. The address         is a natural language address. The address is selected from one         of the plurality of addresses stored in a database. The         addresses may be stored in the operational database 130 or the         historical database 132, or they may be provided by an external         address database service, for instance geo.me or qas.co.uk. The         addresses each have associated therewith a verified coordinate         location expressed in latitude and longitude. Multiple databases         may be used (in a hierarchical fashion) for address lookup. The         pick-up address may be selected by the customer in any suitable         way, with the most appropriate way depending on whether the         customer is using the software application on their mobile         device, using the web booking service or using an agent in a         call centre. If the journey type is an airport pick-up type, the         pick-up address indicates the airport and terminal and         optionally flight number.     -   Drop off address. The drop off address again is selected from         one of multiple addresses stored in the database and is selected         by the customer in any suitable way. If the journey type is an         airport drop off type, the pick-up address indicates the airport         and terminal and optionally flight number.     -   Pick-up date and time. This indicates a time and date which the         customer requires the journey to start. Alternatively, the date         and time may indicate ASAP (as soon as possible), if the         customer requires the private hire vehicle at the earliest         opportunity.

Optional information regarding the booking includes the following.

-   -   Customer's reference. This can be provided for instance as free         text or selected from a drop-down menu. If a reference is         provided, this information can be included in an account         statement against a journey at a later date.     -   Additional comments. This is free text that provides any         potentially relevant information, and may be provided to the         driver once the booking has been allocated.

The system 100 comprises a journey cost calculation module 122. The cost calculation module 122 executes software code which determines the price for a requested journey, during the booking process and prior to vehicle allocation. Journey cost calculation is performed at the time of a booking and the result returned to the customer requesting the booking. The resulting cost for the journey is provided before the customer confirms the booking.

The journey cost calculation module 122 uses a number of different ways of calculating the base cost of the journey. The module 122 may set a fixed price for some journeys. These are agreed in advance with a particular account customer for journeys between pre-determined points. The cost calculation module 122 checks whether the booked journey and customer meet the requirements for a fixed price tariff. If the conditions are not met, then another pricing method is used. The cost calculation module 122 may use zonal pricing if a fixed price is not used. Where every point on the journey is within a defined zone, zonal pricing can be used. If neither fixed pricing nor zonal pricing is used, or if the conditions for their application are not met, then the cost calculation module 122 may use an A to B (A-B) pricing method. The A-B method may specify the number of units between points A and B. A unit price depending on the type of vehicle etc. is then used to calculate the price. If there is no A-B record for a particular journey, the crow fly (direct) distance (i.e. the length of a straight line between the pick-up and drop-off locations) is used to calculate the base cost for the journey. This method may use map grid references or alternatively may be based on GPS data, i.e. the latitude and longitude of the pick-up and drop-off points.

The cost calculation module 122 may retrieve all the map and location information needed to make these calculations from the historical database 132. The historical database 132 may store a detailed geospatial model of a particular region, such as a city. As an alternative, or in addition to the methods described above, the cost calculation module 122 may use the real road distance for the journey, which is calculated using the road map from the historical database 132 and a route planning algorithm. Different rates may be used for different parts of a single journey. For example a first per mile rate may be used for the first 10 miles of a journey and a second per mile rate may be used for the rest of the journey. The historical database 132 may also store information regarding speed limits and historical traffic data. This information may also be used by the cost calculation module 122 to calculate an estimated time for the journey. The estimated journey time may then form the basis of the cost calculation.

Other criteria used by the cost calculation module 122 when calculating the price are the type of vehicle (VIP, green, 7-seater etc.) including any special facilities the vehicle has, the method of payment and the date and time of the journey. The cost calculation module 122 may also apply a flat “pick-up fee” for every journey.

The cost calculation module 122 may also determine how much of the fare charged to the customer is passed to the driver. This may be a simple percentage of the total fare or a more complex calculation based on one or more of journey time, distance, waiting time and number of passengers.

The allocation function allocates a vehicle and driver to a booking. The allocation function is described in some detail below. In brief, a vehicle and driver are allocated to the booking, and the associated customer, having regard to a number of factors including the pick-up location specified in the booking, the drop off location specified in the booking, the service type specified in the booking, the date and time specified in the booking, the geographical distribution of the vehicles that are managed by the system 100, the demand for vehicles that are managed by the system 100 and information relating to the drivers.

The allocation function is automatic insofar as it does not require any manual involvement once the booking has been made. Once a job has been allocated to a particular driver and a particular vehicle, this is recorded in the operational database 130 with an indication that the journey has not yet been travelled.

The vehicle and driver management function includes a number of features. These include the monitoring of vehicle in terms of distance travelled etc. and ensuring that they provided for mechanical servicing at appropriate times. Drivers are managed also to ensure that documentation relating to private hire vehicle licenses, insurance etc. is in place. Additionally, the function maintains a record of hours worked and jobs performed, along with any other relevant information.

The accounts management function acts to manage information relating to customer's accounts with the operator of the system 100. This includes the maintenance and management of information such as authorised users, credit limits, invoicing requirement etc.

The record keeping function acts to store various information that is created by or observed by the system 100. This information includes information about bookings yet to be fulfilled, which is included in the operational database 130.

The sequence of steps that are performed by the system during execution of a job will now be described with reference to FIG. 2. This shows execution of a relatively simple job in which there is one pick-up location, one drop off location, no driver reallocation and no variation in the journey. Additionally, journey costing and invoicing are not covered by this Figure.

The operation starts at step 2.1. At step 2.2, a booking is accepted by the system 100. Alternative ways for accepting a booking are described above with reference to FIG. 1 a.

At step 2.3, the booking is confirmed to the customer, for instance by email. The message sent to the customer by the system 100 includes a booking reference number and some or all of the information relating to the booking, including the pick-up and drop off locations, the date and time of pick-up etc.

At step 2.4, the system 100 saves the booking until it is time to start allocation. For an ASAP job, allocation may commence straight away. Otherwise, allocation may start a fixed time before the date and time specified for pick-up in the booking information, as is described in more detail below.

At step 2.5, the system allocates a driver and a vehicle to the job. This is discussed in relation to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 below. On allocating the vehicle, the status of the vehicle and driver is changed from “Available” to “Allocated”. This prevents the vehicle/driver being allocated to a different job until the status changes to a suitable status.

At step 2.6, the system 100 sends a message to the customer with details of the allocated vehicle. The message includes text such as ‘Your vehicle is on its way’. The message also indicates the job number, which may be the same as the booking number. The message also indicates the identity of the vehicle, so that it can be readily identified by the customer. The identity of the vehicle may be indicated for instance by the registration or license plate that is provided on the vehicle. It may also indicate the make and model of the vehicle, and/or the colour of the vehicle. Additionally, the message includes information by which the customer can contact the driver that has been allocated to the job. For instance, it may include the mobile telephone number of the driver. Providing the mobile telephone number of the driver allows the customer to call the driver with any comments or questions that they may have before the customer is collected by the vehicle. Additionally, the message includes a hyperlink to a webpage at which the location of the vehicle is shown on a map. This allows the customer to identify where the vehicle is at any stage between the vehicle being allocated to the job and the customer being collected by the vehicle.

At step 2.7, the system 100 sends a message to the driver with details of the job. The message includes various pieces of information including the name of the customer. This allows the driver to confirm the customer when the driver meets the customer at the pick-up location. The message also includes the pick-up location and the drop off location. The pick-up location and drop off location may be provided in the message in such a way that they can be extracted by the driver's device no and automatically placed into a navigation application that is present on the driver's device 110. This allows the driver to commence the provision by the driver's device 110 of navigation guidance to the pick-up location in response to the driver selecting the pick-up location by way of an input on the driver's device 110. Similarly, after the customer has been collected at the pick-up location, the driver can cause the device 110 to commence providing route guidance to the drop off location by providing a suitable input on the driver's device 110.

The system may comprise a route planning module configured to run a route planning algorithm. The route planning module may access the map and location database 109 in order to calculate a route. The route planning module may also access historical traffic data in the historical database 132 and/or live traffic information in order to more accurately predict the fastest route. Once a driver has indicated that they have picked up a customer, the route planning module may provide route guidance to the driver via the driver's device 110. The route guidance may be in the form of navigation instructions. Having a centralised route planning and guidance providing system avoids the need for the driver to provide their own route guidance device and to keep such a device updated.

At step 2.8, the system 100 receives a POB (passenger on board) message from the driver. This message is transmitted by the driver's device no in response to the driver indicating that they have collected the customer from the pick-up location. The option to indicate POB status is provided to the driver once the driver device 110 determines that the vehicle has arrived at the pick-up location, or is within a predetermined radius (e.g. 50 m) of the pick-up location and has become stationary. However, the sending of the POB message from the driver's device 110 is not automatic. In this step, the status of the vehicle/driver is changed from “Allocated” to “POB”.

Following receiving the POB message from the driver, the system 100 at step 2.9 records that the customer has been picked up. Next, the system 100 receives a drop off message from the driver at step 2.10. This is message is sent by the device 110 after the driver indicates to the driver's device 110 that the customer has been deposited at the drop off location. The option to indicate that the customer has been dropped off may be provided to the driver upon the driver's device 110 determining that the vehicle has reached the drop off location or is within a predetermined radius (e.g. 50 m) of the drop off location and has become stationary. However, the sending of the drop off message from the driver's device 110 is not automatic.

After the drop off message has been received from the driver's device 110 at step 2.11, the system 100 completes a journey record for the journey in the operational database 130 (the record was created during the booking process). The record of the journey stored in the operational database 130 includes the following information. The record includes the pick-up address and the drop off address. The information also includes the pick-up time and date and, if different, the booking time and date. The record also includes the drop off time and date, as detected by the system 100 in response to receiving the drop off message from the driver at step 2.10. The record also includes the cost of the journey, in terms of financial value.

The record also includes the travelled distance, which is not the crow fly (direct) distance between the pick-up and drop off locations but instead is the road distance travelled by the vehicle. The record also includes the journey time, in terms of minutes and seconds. The record also includes vehicle type information that indicates the type of vehicle that performs the journey.

The record also includes the booking information relating to the journey, which may include information about the identity of the customer that made the booking, the time of making the booking, the mode of making the booking (e.g. web, application or call centre) and any other relevant information relating to the booking.

Next, at step 2.12 the driver and vehicle are reallocated to the pool of available drivers. This is achieved by changing the status of the vehicle/driver to “Available” from “POB”.

The customer is then messaged with a receipt for the journey travelled, if required, at step 2.13. Lastly, the operation ends at step 2.14.

A method of scoring a vehicle against a booking will now be described with reference to FIG. 3. The scoring process of FIG. 3 is performed by the job allocation module 105.

The operation starts at step 3.1. In brief, different scores are calculated at steps 3.2 to 3.7, and at step 3.8 the scores are summed together. Clearly, it will be appreciated that the scores may be calculated in any order, and may be calculated wholly or partly in parallel.

At step 3.2, a distance score is calculated. The distance score allows the distance between a vehicle and the pick-up location of the booking to be taken into account when scoring the vehicle against the booking. The distance score is calculated as the distance between the current position of the vehicle and the pick-up address. The distance has the unit of miles, but it may alternatively be kilometers. The distance is calculated as the distance that will need to be travelled by the vehicle to reach the pick-up address, taking into account road layout, one way streets etc. This is known as the road distance. The shortest route from the vehicle to the pick-up address is used for the distance location, even if this is not the quickest route. The route and the road distance thereof are calculated by the system 100 using information from the historical database 132. It is the last recorded position of the vehicle that is used in the distance score calculation.

An administrator or other operator of the system 100 may apply a setting such that the distance score is always zero, in which case the distance between the vehicle and the pick-up location is not taken into account in the score calculation.

At step 3.3, a service compatibility score is calculated. The service compatibility score results in the taking into account of the car type preference that was specified in the booking against the type of the vehicle that is being scored. If the type of vehicle that is being costed is the same type as that is specified in the booking, or is consistent with that type, then the service compatibility score is zero. The service compatibility score takes a positive value if there is incompatibility between the service type of the booking and the type of vehicle that is being costed. In the case of the booking specifying a VIP and the vehicle being costed being a standard vehicle, a penalty of 500 may be provided as the service compatibility score. This penalty helps to ensure that a VIP vehicle will be provided to fulfil the booking if one is available, but if not then a standard car can be provided.

In the case of the booking specifying a standard four passenger vehicle, a penalty score of 50 points is provided for a vehicle that is a seven-seater vehicle. This helps in ensuring that the booking is serviced with a suitable car, but also contributes to avoiding the removal of a large capacity vehicle from the pool of available vehicles unnecessarily.

In the case of the booking being for a standard car and the vehicle type being a VIP car, a penalty score of 100 is provided. Similarly to the situation described in relation to the larger capacity vehicle, this helps to ensure that the booking is satisfied whilst not removing VIP vehicles from the available fleet unnecessarily.

At step 3.4, an empty time score is calculated. The empty time score allows the utilisation of the vehicle (and corresponding driver) to be taken into account in the scoring of the vehicle in relation to the booking.

The empty time score is calculated as the product of −1 and the time (in minutes) since the last job allocated to the car/driver combination was completed and a cost per empty minute. The cost per empty minute is in effect a weighting factor. The weighting factor may be set by an administrator of the system 100. For a vehicle that is in the state POB, the empty time score is zero.

The inclusion of an empty time score in the operation of FIG. 3 helps to provide load balancing of the vehicles, and load balancing of the drivers. Vehicle load balancing helps to even out wear and tear on different vehicles in the fleet on a unit time basis. Load balancing of drivers is useful because it helps to prevent the likelihood of drivers performing too many consecutive jobs with insufficient breaks in between the jobs, and it also helps to reduce the likelihood that drivers will wait for long periods between jobs. Load balancing of drivers, through use of the empty time score in the costing operation, helps to prevent driver fatigue and thus improves safety.

At step 3.5, a going home score is calculated. If the status of the driver is ‘going home’, then a score is calculated. If the driver has some other state, then the going home score is zero.

If the driver's status is ‘going home’, the going home score is calculated as the product of −1 and the number of saved miles and a distance criteria. The saved miles component of the score provides a measure of how much closer to their home the driver would be if they fulfilled this booking. The saved miles component is calculated as the current distance to home (which is the road distance from the current location of the vehicle to the driver's home address) minus the distance between the drop off address and home (which is the road distance from the drop off location of the booking to the driver's home address). The distance criteria provides a weighting, and may be set by an administrator of the system 100.

The effect of the inclusion of the going home score is to increase the likelihood that a job will be allocated to a driver who is on the way to their home (for instance for a lunch break or having finished their shift) if the job would take the driver to a location that is nearer to their home. The magnitude of the score depends on the distance that would be saved, so a score is obtained if the drop off location is relatively closer to the driver's home address.

At step 3.6, a drop 5/10 score is calculated. For drivers that have a ‘drop in 5’ or a ‘drop in 10’ status, the drop 5/10 score has a positive value. For drivers that do not have a ‘drop in 5’ or a ‘drop in 10’ status, that is for drivers that are vacant and not allocated to a booking, the drop 5/10 score is zero. The status of the vehicle is set by the driver through their driver's device 110. In particular, when the driver's device 110 calculates that there are fewer than 10 minutes remaining in the journey to the drop off address, the driver's device 110 provides an option to the user to adopt the ‘drop in 10’ status. If the driver selects this option on the driver's device 110 (when the vehicle is stationary), the ‘drop in 10’ status is entered. Similarly, when the driver's device 110 detects that there are fewer than five minutes remaining in the journey to the drop off location, the driver's device 110 provides an option to allow the driver to select entering the ‘drop in 5’ status.

If the driver of the vehicle has a ‘drop in 5’ status, a score of 20 points is calculated. If the driver has the ‘drop in 10’ status, a score of 30 points is calculated.

The calculation of a drop 5/10 score allows vehicles that have a POB status (that is, they have a job in progress) to be considered for allocation to a booking. However, a penalty is applied to them with the result that they are less favoured than vehicles that are currently empty. This provides protection against the driver arriving late for the booking if there are unexpected delays in the previous journey.

At step 3.7, the scores calculated in steps 3.2 to 3.6 are summed, to provide a total score for the driver/vehicle/booking combination. This score is then used in an allocation process, as will now be described in reference to FIG. 4. The allocation process of FIG. 4 is performed by the job allocation module 105.

Referring to FIG. 4, the operation starts at step 4.1.

At step 4.2, a booking is made and entered onto the system. This corresponds to step 2.2 of FIG. 2.

At step 4.3, the job allocation module 105 waits until X minutes before the pick-up time for the booking. This results in the allocation process being commenced a predetermined time before the pick-up time (on the correct date). For instance, the value of X may be 20, in which case the allocation process starts 20 minutes before the scheduled pick-up time.

At step 4.4, the job allocation module 45 selects the Y vehicles that are nearest to the pick-up location of the booking. The value of Y may for instance be 20 or 30. The vehicles are determined to be nearest if they have shortest crow fly distance between their current location (which is their last reported location) and the location of the pick-up address. The distance is calculated as the straight line distance between the latitude and longitude coordinates of the location of the vehicle and the location corresponding to the pick-up address. The use of crow fly distances in step 4.4 results in an appropriate number of vehicles being selected for possible allocation to the job but without requiring the processing needed to calculate road distances and routes for each of the vehicles. In step 4.4 it is only vehicles that have the status of available, going home, drop in 5 or drop in 10 that can be selected. The result is a pool of candidate vehicles for the booking.

At step 4.5, a score is calculated for the vehicle/booking combination for each of the vehicles that were selected in step 4.4. The score is calculated as described above with reference to FIG. 3. The result is a numerical value that is an indication of the suitability of the vehicle for the booking.

At step 4.6, the job allocation module 105 determines whether a vehicle needs to be allocated to the booking. This involves determining whether there is one vehicle that is the clear best match for the booking or whether there is only one vehicle (or a small number of vehicles, e.g. 2 or 3 vehicles) that would be able to reach the pick-up location on or before the pick-up time.

There are a number of options for implementation of step 4.6, two of which will now be described.

In one alternative, a comparison is made of the scores for the vehicles as calculated in step 4.5. Because of the way the scoring is achieved, a lower numerical value indicates a greater suitability to the booking. As such, the vehicle with the lowest score is the one that is most suitable for the booking. If at step 4.6 it is determined that the vehicle with the lowest score has a score that is much lower than the second lowest score, it can be determined that the vehicle with the lowest score is sufficiently well suited to the booking that it needs to be allocated to the booking.

Alternatively, the determination that the vehicle needs to be allocated to the booking may be made if the time remaining to the pick-up time is the same as or less than a threshold amount more than the expected journey time from the lowest scoring vehicle to the pick-up address. The threshold provides a buffer. The threshold amount may be two minutes for instance. This is particularly advantageous because it results in the determination that a vehicle needs to be allocated only at the time (or perhaps shortly before the time) when the vehicle would need to leave its current location to arrive at the pick-up location in time to collect the customer on time. By making the determination in respect of the lowest scoring vehicle, it is the vehicle that is best suited to the booking that is determined to be required to be allocated to the booking even if that vehicle is not the vehicle that is closest to the pick-up location or has the shortest journey to the pick-up location.

At step 4.7, it is determined whether at step 4.6 it was determined that a vehicle needs to be allocated. If a vehicle does need to be allocated, the vehicle with the lowest score is allocated to the booking at step 4.12 before the operation ends at step 4.13.

If it is not determined that the vehicle needs to be allocated, which occurs when there is not one clear best vehicle for the booking and when there are plural vehicles that would be able to reach the pick-up location in time to meet the booking, the operation proceeds to step 4.8.

The configuration of the job allocation module 105 to allocate a vehicle to the booking at the last minute, or ‘just in time’, unless there is a clear best vehicle, increases the flexibility of allocation of vehicle resources of the fleet. It also contributes to reducing the overall mileage that is travelled by the vehicles of fleet in order to satisfy the bookings that are received by the system 100.

An optional step 4.8 follows step 4.7. Here, it is determined whether the number of vehicles that are reasonable candidates for allocation to the booking is sufficient. In particular, step 4.8 involves determining whether the number of vehicles with a score less than a threshold value (in this example the threshold value is 100) exceeds a threshold number of vehicles (for instance 5 vehicles). If there are insufficient vehicles, at step 4.9 the vehicles search is expanded to include further vehicles in the pool of candidate vehicles for the booking. The further vehicles are added to the vehicles that are identified at step 4.4, and the further vehicles have scores calculated for them in step 4.5 on subsequent performance of that step.

After step 4.9 or after step 4.8 revealing that there are sufficient vehicles, at step 4.10 the job allocation module 105 waits until X−1 minutes before the pick-up time. Once this time has been reached, the value of X is decremented at step 4.11 and the operation returns to step 4.5, where a new score is calculated for each vehicle in the candidate pool of vehicles. The effect of steps 4.10 and 4.11 is that scores are calculated for vehicles in the candidate pool of vehicles once every minute until a vehicle allocated to the booking.

On subsequent performance of step 4.5 in relation to a given booking, a different result may be achieved. In particular, the status and locations of the vehicles in the candidate pool of vehicles may have changed such that there now is one clear best candidate vehicle for allocation to the booking, or that the lowest scoring candidate needs to be allocated now so that they may arrive at the pick-up location in time (because the journey time from the current location of the best scoring vehicle to the pick-up location is the same as or the slightly greater than the time remaining to the pick-up time).

On subsequent execution of step 4.5, vehicles that no longer have one of the relevant statuses (available, drop in 5 or drop in 10) are removed from the candidate pool of vehicles and are not scored. As such, the size of the candidate pool of the vehicles typically reduces on subsequent executions of step 4.5. If the number of potentially suitable vehicles falls too low, this is addressed by action of steps 4.8 and 4.9, where the vehicle search is expanded and the candidate pool is added to.

It will be appreciated from the above that steps 4.5 and 4.6 are repeated until a vehicle is allocated to the booking. The number of times that the steps are repeated depends on the initial value of X, which dictates how long before the pick-up time allocation process begins, and the number of minutes before the pick-up time that the vehicle is allocated to the booking. For bookings in central city locations where there are relatively large number of vehicles, bookings may be allocated only a small number of minutes, for instance 2, 3 or 4 minutes, before pick-up times. For bookings in more remote locations, where there may be relatively few vehicles and a low vehicle density, bookings may be allocated significantly longer before the pick-up time, for instance 12, 15 or 18 minutes before the pick-up time.

For vehicle fleets with relatively low vehicle densities, having regard to the covered geographical area, a higher value of X may be appropriate. Advantageously, the value of X, which indicates the number of minutes prior to the pick-up time that the allocation process begins, may be set by an administrator of the system.

Similarly, the value of Y, which determines the number of vehicles that are identified for selection in the pool of vehicles at step 4.4 may be set by an administrator of the system 100.

Instead of the database functions being provided by a small number of databases, in the above embodiments the operational database 130 and the driver network database 131, as well as the historical database 132, the functions may be split between a higher number of databases, as shown in the system 100 of FIG. 1b . Reference numerals are retained from FIG. 1a for like elements, and these elements are not described again here to avoid repetition.

In the FIG. 1b system, an accounts database 119 is configured to store the detail of every account held with the operator of the system 100. The record keeping function is provided primarily by a journeys travelled database 108 and a map and locations database 109, as well as other components of the system 100. Each vehicle has a respective record in a vehicle database 121. Each driver has a record in a driver database 120. Pick-up and drop off addresses are selected from one of the plurality of addresses stored in an address database 115. Once a job has been allocated to a particular driver and a particular vehicle, this is recorded in the journeys travelled database 108 along with an indication that the journey has not yet been travelled.

The core system 101, the web booking server 102, the application booking server 103, the job allocation module 105, the driver location monitoring module 106 and the driver's devices server 107 may be provided by a single server or by a system of cooperating servers, for instance arranged in a cluster. Each of the core system 101, the web booking server 102, the application booking server 103, the job allocation module 105, the driver location monitoring module 106 and the driver's devices server 107 includes dedicated software modules that are specific to that component. In the cases of multiple servers being used, each component may include a respective server (or more than one server) or some components may share a server or server system.

Whether the system 100 includes one or multiple servers, each server includes a number of features as will now be described with reference to FIG. 5. FIG. 5 shows one server 40. If the system 100 comprises plural servers, multiple versions of the FIG. 5 server 40 are connected together.

Each server 40 in the system 100 includes a processor 412. The processor 412 is connected to volatile memory such as RAM 413 by a bus 418. The bus 418 also connects the processor 112 and the RAM 413 to non-volatile memory, such as ROM 414. A communications interface 415 is coupled to the bus 418, and thus also to the processor 412 and the memories 413, 414. The interface 415 is connected to a radio network in any suitable way, for instance via the Internet or a local network. Within the ROM 414 is stored a software application 417, which includes program code that causes the server to perform the functions required of it. An operating system (OS) 420 also is stored in the ROM 414.

An output device such as a display 419 may be provided with the server 40. An input device such as a keyboard 421 may be provided with the server 40. This allows configuration, monitoring and updating by administrators and other users as required.

The server 40 may take any suitable form. Generally speaking, the server 40 comprises processing circuitry 412, including one or more processors, and a storage device 414, 413, comprising a single memory unit or a plurality of memory units. The storage device 414, 413 stores computer program instructions that, when loaded into the processing circuitry 412, control the operation of the server 40.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating the architecture of the telephony arrangement employed in embodiments of the invention. The system 600 is substantially similar to the system 100 shown in FIG. 1 except that several of the components have been consolidated into a single element for ease of reference having reference numeral 601. The element 601 is equivalent to the system 100 shown in FIGS. 1a and 1b except that the driver device 110, the customer device 112, and the respective radio networks 111 are shown separately for illustrative purposes. This element will hereinafter be referred to as the central management system 601.

The system 600 also comprises a driver device 110 and a customer device 112 which can communicate with the central management system 601 via a respective radio network 111.

As described above, with reference to FIG. 1, the driver's devices 110 are portable electronic devices that are provided with wireless communication facilities. The driver's devices 110 may take any suitable form, but typically are smart phones or personal digital assistants or such like. The driver's devices no include a display and one or more input devices such as a keyboard, a voice control module or a touch screen or any combination thereof. The driver's devices 110 are connected to the driver's devices server 107 via radio network 111, which may for instance be a mobile phone (cellular phone) network. Additionally, messages are able to be passed between the driver's devices 110 and the driver's devices server 107 through other media, and in particular SMS (short message service) messages and optionally also MMS (multimedia message service) messages.

The radio network 111 may alternatively be a dedicated radio network, for instance a private mobile phone network or a private radio network of some other type. The customer device 112 can take any form. For example, the customer device 112 can be a device such as a smartphone used to make the original booking as described above with respect to FIG. 1. Alternatively, the customer device may be a landline telephone. The telephone number of the customer device may be stored in the accounts database 109 as part of the customer's contact details. Alternatively, the customer telephone number may be obtained from the customer during the booking process.

The central management system 601 is also in communication with a call facility 602. The call facility 602 may be an external conference calling service provided by an external party. The call facility should be understood to comprise hardware and software components to enable calls to be placed. Since such services are known per se, further discussion of their structure will be omitted.

The call facility 602 acts as a host, e.g. a conference bridge for a call between the driver and the customer. The central management system 601 is in communication with the call facility 602 via a link 603. The link 603 may be a wireless connection over a 3G network.

A process of establishing a phone call between a driver and a customer will now be described with respect to FIG. 7. The driver who wishes to make a phone call may be a driver allocated to a particular booking as described above with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. The driver may arrive at the pick-up location at the pick-up time to find that the customer is not present. The driver then wishes to phone the customer. Alternatively, if the driver is running late for the pick-up, the driver may warn the customer by calling them.

The process begins at step 7.1.

At step 7.2, the driver requests that a telephone call be set up between the driver device 110 and the customer device 112. The driver may indicate this request by selecting a “Call out” soft button displayed on the user interface of the driver device 110.

A message is sent via the driver devices server 107 to the central management system 601 informing the central management system 601 that the driver wishes to initiate a telephone call with the customer. The message may take the form of an SMS or XML message or the like.

The call request message sent from the driver is a relatively simple message in terms of structure. For example, the message contains an indication that the driver wishes to establish telephone contact with the customer e.g. in the form of a three character message code. The message also contains a driver identifier, in the form of the telephone number of the driver device 110. Sending a call request message having a small data size is advantageous since it is not overly resource intensive. As a result, the time taken to send the message is fairly short. A further advantage is that the request message may be sent from a location having a low-speed data connection or no data connection. This is particularly advantageous in the field of private hire vehicles where a driver may not always have access to a mobile network having a data connection (e.g. a 3G network) due to the vehicle route being out of range of such a network. The driver device 110 is configured to detect when there is a mobile phone signal but no data connection and in response to this determination send the call request message as an SMS. No driver identifier is needed in the SMS because the network already knows this from communication between the SIM card of the driver device and the mobile phone network.

At step 7.3 the core system 101, using the driver identifier, obtains information about the job to which the driver has been allocated. Information regarding the job to which the driver has been assigned may be obtained from the job allocation module 105 with reference to the operational database 130 shown in FIG. 1a or to the driver database 120 and the vehicle database 121 shown in FIG. 1b . The information relating to the job includes the identity of the customer who has ordered the private hire vehicle or the identity of the person for whom the vehicle was ordered. Step 7.3 includes a check that the job is active, i.e. that the job has not been cancelled by or on behalf of the customer. Step 7.3 also involves checking that the status of the driver/vehicle is not POB.

At step 7.4, the core system 101 can then retrieve contact information including a telephone number relating to the customer from the operational database 130. For customers belonging to a corporate account, the customer contact information may be retrieved from the operational database 130 shown in FIG. 1a or the accounts database 109 shown in FIG. 1 b.

At step 7.5, the core system 101 retrieves the driver telephone number. Retrieving the driver telephone number may involve extracting the driver telephone number from the call request message. Alternatively, the core system 101 may retrieve the telephone number of the driver from the driver network database 131 or the driver database 120. It should be borne in mind that the order of the steps 7.4 and 7.5 could be reversed. Furthermore, the step 7.5 could be performed prior to the step 7.3.

At step 7.6, the central management system 601 sends a call placement instruction to the call facility 602 to establish a telephone call between the vehicle driver and the customer. The instruction takes the form of an XML message and is sent via the link 603.

The request includes the telephone number of the driver and the telephone number of the customer.

The call placement instruction comprises further instructions to establish a connection with the driver device 110 prior to establishing a connection with the customer device 112.

The process performed at the central management system 601 ends at step 7.7. As such, a request from the driver to place a call between the driver and the customer is communicated securely and efficiently to the call facility 602.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating a process 800 executed at the call facility 602 for setting up a call between the driver and the customer.

This process begins at step 8.1.

At step 8.2, the call facility 602 receives an instruction from the central management system 601 to establish a call between the driver and the customer. This is the message that was sent at step 7.6. As discussed above, the instruction may be in the form of an encrypted XML message and may contain the telephone number of the driver and the customer. Sending the instruction in the form of an encrypted XML message is advantageous since it protects the telephone numbers conveyed by the message.

At step 8.3, the call facility 602 establishes a connection with each of the driver device 110 and the customer device 112. As such, the call facility 602 acts as a host for the telephone call in the sense that the telephone call does not pass through the central system 100. The connection with the driver device 110 and the customer device 112 is over a network 604 ₁ and 604 ₂. The networks 604 may both be mobile networks such as a 3G network.

As stated above, the call placement instruction may comprise instructions to establish the connection with the driver device no prior to establishing a connection with the customer device 112. This configuration allows the phone call to appear outwardly as though the driver were calling the customer directly. However, advantageously, the driver has at no point had access to the customer's telephone number.

As the call is placed, a phone number may be displayed on the screen of the customer device corresponding to either the driver telephone number or the telephone number of the private hire provider so that the customer can be made aware of who is calling them. The screen of the driver device 110 may display a driver callout display to indicate that a call is being placed.

The process 800 ends at step 8.4.

For ease of illustration, the customer device has been illustrated as the customer devices 112 in FIGS. 1a and 1b . However, it should be noted that the customer device may be a landline telephone or a separate mobile phone.

While the network 604 ₁ connecting the driver device 110 to the call facility 602 is a mobile network, the network 604 ₂ can be a mobile or a land network.

Advantages of using the call facility include reduced call costs because the call facility handles calls for multiple organisations and can negotiate lower termination fees with mobile networks that carry the calls. Moreover, it is cheaper and easier to monitor and manage call placements using the call facility than if calls are made directly from the driver device to the customer, or if the call from the driver device is received at a call server hosted by the taxi operator and linked with an outbound call to the customer. Using an external service does not require the private hire operator to maintain a telephone call server.

The call facility can send a report on each call when completed to the central management system 601 which stores details in the operational database 130 and/or the driver network database 131. The central management system 601 is configured to monitor call outs placed by drivers and flag when drivers have particularly high numbers of call outs or particularly long call outs. Drivers may receive an automated message in response to such a flag. If a driver is persistently flagged for excessive callouts, the driver may be earmarked for customer service training. As such, the costs of operating the private hire system can be reduced.

The term ‘memory’ when used in this specification is intended to relate primarily to memory comprising both non-volatile memory and volatile memory unless the context implies otherwise, although the term may also cover one or more volatile memories only, one or more non-volatile memories only, or one or more volatile memories and one or more non-volatile memories. Examples of volatile memory include RAM, DRAM, SDRAM etc. Examples of non-volatile memory include ROM, PROM, EEPROM, flash memory, optical storage, magnetic storage, etc.

Reference to “computer-readable storage medium”, “computer program product”, “tangibly embodied computer program” etc., or a “processor” or “processing circuit” etc. should be understood to encompass not only computers having differing architectures such as single/multi processor architectures and sequencers/parallel architectures, but also specialised circuits such as field programmable gate arrays FPGA, application specify circuits ASIC, signal processing devices and other devices. References to computer program, instructions, code etc. should be understood to express software for a programmable processor firmware such as the programmable content of a hardware device as instructions for a processor or configured or configuration settings for a fixed function device, gate array, programmable logic device, etc.

It should be realised that the foregoing embodiments are not to be construed as limiting and that other variations and modifications will be evident to those skilled in the art and are intended to be encompassed by the claims unless expressly excluded by the claim language when taking into account equivalents. Some such alternatives and modifications will now be described.

In the above, journey cost calculation is performed at the time of a booking and the result returned to the customer requesting the booking. Cost calculation may alternatively be performed ahead of the booking being made (for instance on the basis of an agreed tariff), at the end of fulfilment of the booking, or at a later time.

Additionally, the cost scoring of a vehicle against a booking may be performed in any suitable way. Also, cost scoring may be performed only once and the best vehicle allocated at that time, rather than cost scoring being performed until it is decided to allocate a vehicle.

Moreover, the disclosure of the present application should be understood to include any novel features or any novel combination of features either explicitly or implicitly disclosed herein or in any generalisation thereof and during prosecution of the present application or of any application derived therefrom, new claims may be formulated to cover any such features and/or combination of such features. 

The invention claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method for connecting a telephone call between a vehicle driver and a customer, the method comprising: receiving a driver request message from a device associated with the vehicle driver to place a telephone call between the vehicle driver and a customer; using the driver request message to match the vehicle driver with a job allocation record in at least one database and identifying from the record the identity of the customer; retrieving a telephone number relating to the device associated with the vehicle driver and retrieving a customer telephone number from the at least one database; and causing an external telephony service to use the telephone numbers to place the telephone call between the vehicle driver and the customer, wherein the driver request message to place a telephone call is sent in response to actuation of a call-out soft button displayed on a user interface of a driver device which does not divulge a telephone number of the customer, actuation of the call-out soft button causing sending of a message code to a vehicle management system for indicating to the vehicle management system that the vehicle driver wishes to establish telephone contact with the customer, and wherein causing an external telephony service to place the telephone call comprises sending an instruction message from the vehicle management system to the external telephony service, wherein the instruction message is an encrypted XML message which comprises an instruction for the external telephony service to act as a host for the telephone call so that the telephone call does not pass through the vehicle management system, to first call the driver device, and in response to the driver device answering the call, subsequently to call the customer device such that the customer device displays a number so that the customer is made aware of who is calling them.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the driver request message comprises a driver identifier.
 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising using the driver identifier to identify a job to which the vehicle driver has been allocated and obtaining customer information relating to the job.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising retrieving a customer phone number from a customer database or from an accounts database.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the external telephony service is a conference call host.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the instruction message contains the telephone number of the driver and the telephone number of the customer.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing the driver telephone number to be displayed on the customer device during the telephone call.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing a telephone number of the private hire service to be displayed on the customer device during the telephone call.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the driver request message code is received in the form of an SMS or MMS message.
 10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-readable code, which, when executed by computing apparatus, causes the computing apparatus to perform a method of managing a private hire vehicle sharing facility, the method comprising: receiving a driver request message from a device associated with the vehicle driver to place a telephone call between the vehicle driver and a customer, using the driver request message to match the vehicle driver with a job allocation record in at least one database and identifying from the record the identity of the customer, retrieving a telephone number relating to the device associated with the vehicle driver and retrieving a customer telephone number from the at least one database; and causing an external telephony service to use the telephone numbers to place the telephone call between the vehicle driver and the customer, wherein the driver request message to place a telephone call is sent in response to actuation of a call-out soft button displayed on a user interface of a driver device which does not divulge a telephone number of the customer, actuation of the call-out soft button causing sending of a message code to a vehicle management system for indicating to the vehicle management system that the vehicle driver wishes to establish telephone contact with the customer, and wherein causing an external telephony service to place the telephone call comprises sending an instruction message from the vehicle management system to the external telephony service, wherein the instruction message is an encrypted XML message which comprises an instruction for the external telephony service to act as a host for the telephone call so that the telephone call does not pass through the vehicle management system, to first call the driver device, and in response to the driver device answering the call, subsequently to call the customer device such that the customer device displays a number so that the customer is made aware of who is calling them.
 11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the driver request message code is received in the form of an SMS or MMS message.
 12. Apparatus having at least one processor and at least one memory having computer-readable code stored thereon which when executed controls the at least one processor to manage a private hire vehicle sharing facility by: receiving a driver request message from a device associated with the vehicle driver to place a telephone call between the vehicle driver and a customer, using the driver request message to match the vehicle driver with a job allocation record in at least one database and identifying from the record the identity of the customer, retrieving a telephone number relating to the device associated with the vehicle driver and retrieving a customer telephone number from the at least one database; and causing an external telephony service to use the telephone numbers to place the telephone call between the vehicle driver and the customer, wherein the driver request message to place a telephone call is sent in response to actuation of a call-out soft button displayed on a user interface of a driver device which does not divulge a telephone number of the customer, actuation of the call-out soft button causing sending of a message code to a vehicle management system for indicating to the vehicle management system that the vehicle driver wishes to establish telephone contact with the customer, and wherein causing an external telephony service to place the telephone call comprises sending an instruction message from the vehicle management system to the external telephony service, wherein the instruction message is an encrypted XML message which comprises an instruction for the external telephony service to act as a host for the telephone call so that the telephone call does not pass through the vehicle management system, to first call the driver device, and in response to the driver device answering the call, subsequently to call the customer device such that the customer device displays a number so that the customer is made aware of who is calling them.
 13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the driver request message code is received in the form of an SMS or MMS message. 